Arson investigators are looking at the site of a burned homeless encampment near Easy St. and Madera Rd. as where the Easy Fire in Simi Valley may have started on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A Southern California Edison transmission line was active at the time the Easy fire broke out Wednesday in Simi Valley, officials said Thursday, as utility and arson investigators spent the day homing in on the source of the blaze.

Over two days, the fire has scorched more than 1,700 acres while threatening thousands of homes and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Firefighters got the upper hand on Thursday as they reached 60% containment.

The disclosure came Wednesday afternoon, when the Rosemead-based utility informed the California Public Utilities Commission of the active line in the area near where the fire broke out — Easy Street and Los Angeles Avenue, about 4 miles north of the Reagan Library.

Firefighters move into heavy smoke along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Firefighters battle the Easy Fire near the 23 Freeway in Simi Valley. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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Ranchers work to get a horse evacuated along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A firefighter battles the Easy Fire near the 23 Freeway in Simi Valley. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A firefighter tries to keep up with this hot spot along Olsen Road in Simi Valley Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, as crews tried to protect the nearby Reagan Library. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Special to the Los Angeles Daily News)

This photo from video provided by KTLA-TV shows the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as flames from the Easy fire approach in Simi Valley, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019. The new wildfire erupted in wind-whipped Southern California, forcing the evacuation of the Library and nearby homes, as both ends of the state struggled with blazes, dangerously gusty weather and deliberate blackouts. Library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said the hilltop museum was safe (KTLA-TV via AP)

A banner at the entrance to the Ronald Reagan Library as as a helicopter flies over the burned hills on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

An LA County firefighter tries to keep his helmet from flying off in the high winds Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, as he hoses down hot spots along Tierra Rejada Road in Simi Valley during the battle against the Easy fire. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Special to the Los Angeles Daily News)

Firefighters battling the Easy fire attack a huge hot spot Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, along Olsen Road in Simi Valley. They were able to put it out with the help of water-dropping helicopters. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Special to the Los Angeles Daily News)

Ventura battalion Chief Kris McDonald keeps an eye on flames near a ranch in the 1400 block of Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Firefighters attack flames along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Ranchers work to evacuate horses along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Ranchers work to evacuate horses along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Trisha Trifonovich and Jennifer Porta protect themselves from smoke and wind along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A firefighter attacks flames along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Ranchers work to evacuate horses along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A firefighter battles smoke and flames along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Firefighters work to protect a home on a ranch in the 1400 block of Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Ventura battalion Chief Kris McDonald drive past flames near a ranch in the 1400 block of Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Firefighters work on flames on a ranch in the 1400 block of Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Firefighters work on a pile of burning wood near a ranch in the 1400 block of Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Firefighters work on a pile of burning wood near a ranch in the 1400 block of Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Trisha Trifonovich and Jennifer Porta evacuate a goat in the 1200 block of Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Ranch hands work on putting out hot spots along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Trisha Trifonovich and Jennifer Porta evacuate a goat in the 1200 block of Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Firefighters attack flames along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Flames erupt in palm trees along Tierra Rejada road as the Easy fire swept into the area Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

An LA County firefighter and camp fire crew works hotspots along the high and dry grasses on the Mureau fire in Calabasas after air crews from the Easy fire quickly made water drops and knocked it out on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

LA County Fire Cpt. Mike Goudchaux makes his way through the high and dry grasses along the Mureau fire in Calabasas after air crews from the Easy fire quickly made water drops and knocked it out on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

LA County Fire hand crew works on hotspots along the high and dry grasses on the Mureau fire in Calabasas after air crews from the Easy fire quickly made water drops and knocked it out on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

LA County Fire’s Camp 13, an all-female hand crew out of Malibu, work hotspots along the high and dry grasses on the Mureau fire in Calabasas after air crews from the Easy fire quickly made water drops and knocked it out on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

LA County Fire’s Camp 13, an all-female hand crew out of Malibu, work hotspots along the high and dry grasses on the Mureau fire in Calabasas after air crews from the Easy fire quickly made water drops and knocked it out on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

A helicopter fills up with water at a reservoir in Wood Ranch to battle the Easy Fire near the Ronald Reagan Library on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Arson investigators were looking at the site of a burned homeless encampment near Easy Street and Madera Road, near where the Easy fire in Simi Valley may have started on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Arson investigators are looking at the site of a burned homeless encampment near Easy St. and Madera Rd. as where the Easy Fire in Simi Valley may have started on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Bobby Green and Joe Lautman talk about the Easy fire as it burned through their encampment on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Looking at the Easy fire from the Ronald Reagan Library on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A helicopter makes a water drop on the Easy fire Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, as it burns close to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. (Photo by Jacob Salzman/Special to the Los Angeles Daily News)

“On October 30, 2019, a large brush fire known as the Easy Fire was reported at approximately 6:09 a.m. SCE informed there was circuit activity on the Moorpark-Royal 66 kV circuit close in time to the report ofthe fire,” according to the disclosure. “SCE submits this report as it meets the subject of significant public attention or media coverage reporting requirement.”

Arson investigators are looking at the site of a burned homeless encampment near Easy St. and Madera Rd. as where the Easy Fire in Simi Valley may have started on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The disclosure is not an admission of a cause of the fire, but it has launched investigations by the CPUC and a review by SCE.

“While the exact origin is unknown, SCE can confirm that the reported location of the fire is in its service territory and that SCE has facilities, including a 66kV subtransmission line, that runs through that area,” said SCE spokesman Robert Villegas.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we notiifed the CPUC on Oct. 30 that near the reported time of the fire there was activity on that 66kv subtransmission line, which consistent with our public safety power shutoff protocols was not de-energized.”

Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Mike DesForges confirmed that the area was where investigators are looking but have not made any conclusions yet.

On Thursday, the area of the homeless encampment had been cordoned off, with residents expecting to be let back in to the area on Friday with any possessions they’d saved from the fire, which also scorched the encampment.

Bobby Green, 60, was among about 25 sleeping in the encampment near where the Easy fire began. He said someone heard a loud pop near an electrical line transformer.

Crews appeared to be working on a utility pole until about 3:30 that morning, before the fire started, he said.

“It wasn’t one of us,” Green said about the suspicion that someone among the homeless camp started the fire. “With such high winds, no one down there would ever have a campfire,” he said. “We know better.”

David Rosenfeld has been working as a professional journalist for nearly 20 years at newspapers, magazines and websites. He's covered murder trials, interviewed governors and presidential candidates and once did a flip in a biplane for a story assignment. Before joining The Daily Breeze in 2018 to cover El Segundo, Hawthorne and aerospace, he worked at The Beach Reporter in Redondo Beach. In his free time, David loves outdoor sports such as sailing, mountain biking and golfing.

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